Dispensing containers are used for holding a roll of sheet material, such as a roll of aluminum foil or plastic wrap, and for dispensing sheets from the roll. Many of the numerous, commercially available dispensing containers are formed from a thin paperboard material which is folded to form a container body and a top cover portion. The roll of sheet material is contained within the container body and maintained in the container body by the top cover portion. A user typically withdraws sheets from the container body by manually grasping the leading edge of the sheet material and pulling. The sheet is ripped by tearing the sheet material along a cutting edge, such as a metal strip having cutting serrations, which is attached on an upper portion of the front wall. This type of dispensing container has been in use commercially for many years. Examples of this type include the dispensing containers which are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,238,065; 3,477,624; and 2,861,753.
In the present commercial era, recycling of products is desirable. However, paperboard dispensing containers having metal tear strips can be recycled only with difficulty because the attached metal tear strip must be removed before recycling. The metal tear strip also increases manufacturing complexity because an additional manufacturing step is required for attaching the cutting strip to the container body.
In an attempt to eliminate the requirement of attaching a separate cutting strip to the container body, it has been proposed to form serrations on the paperboard container body and then to coat the serrations with a suitable reinforcing resin such as a resorcinol containing phenolic resin as disclosed in Rogers U.S. Pat. No. 3,193,427. Although the additional manufacturing step of attaching a separate cutting strip is eliminated, the container body typically is not recyclable unless the reinforcing coating is removed from the container body. Additionally, the application of a separate reinforcing coating sometimes requires a cure time during manufacture which prolongs the manufacturing process.
It has also been proposed to replace the use of paperboard with a thermoformed plastic, one-piece container body having an integrally attached container top and an integral cutting edge on the container body. Kildea et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,594 discloses a dispensing container where two, triangular configured hollow body shells are joined together. Protuberances positioned on the side of one hollow body shell are received into troughs positioned on the other hollow body shell to maintain both shells in a closed position. A flap cover is folded against one of the walls to aid in guiding the leading edge of the sheet material out from the container. This integral, one-piece dispensing container is reusable and recyclable; however, the container relies on a latching mechanism for closure and the "extra" flap cover which aids in guiding the leading edge of the sheet material out from the container adds substantially to the cost of fabricating the container.